The Rockets will be on the road plenty to start the 2016-17 NBA season.
Schedule begins with 7 of first 8 away from home
Rockets fans won’t get many opportunities to see the rebooted team at home early in the NBA season.
The Rockets’ 2016-17 schedule, released Thursday, has them on the road for seven of their first eight games.
They open the season in Los Angeles against the Kobe Bryant-less Lakers on Oct. 26 on ESPN. After that, the Rockets will play the Mavericks in Dallas on Oct. 28. The Rockets will then play the Mavericks two days later in Houston. Then they’ll head to Cleveland to play the defending champion Cavaliers to begin a five-game road trip.
The third game of that trip is against former Rockets center Dwight Howard’s new team, the Atlanta Hawks. Howard will make his return to Houston on Feb. 2.
The Rockets have two other five-game road trips. One is Nov. 25 to Dec. 2. The other Jan. 21 to Jan. 29.
Houston’s NBA fans will have to wait until 2017 to see the offseason’s headline-grabbing teams in person.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, with Russell Westbrook as the now-undisputed face of the franchise, come to town Jan. 5. Kevin Durant, MVP Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors play at Toyota Center on Jan. 20. The Cavaliers won’t come to Houston until March 12.
The Rockets host the New York Knicks on New Year’s Eve but won’t play in a Christmas Day game for the first time since 2012. Fans will get to see a rematch of the last two NBA Finals as the Cavaliers host the Warriors on that day.
The NBA season starts Oct. 25 with a doubleheader on TNT. The Cavaliers play the Knicks in the first game. The Warriors and Spurs play in the second game.
On Jan. 12, the Pacers and Nuggets will play in London. The Mavericks and Suns will play in Mexico City that same day. The Suns will stay in Mexico City to play the Spurs there on Jan. 14, marking the first consecutive regular-season games in Mexico.